Shabbat

Talmud Torah

2008-05-30T11:41:35Z

For a little Talmud Torah, study of Torah, this week, take a look at this great d'var Torah by Laurence Kaufman, which can be found at RJ.org, the Reform Movement's blog.

Here's a little snippet to get you started.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!

"We have segued to the Book of Numbers, or in Hebrew, BaMidbar, in the wilderness. The English name is a response to the census that is the focus of the first parasha. The Hebrew name, beyond referring to the first substantive word of the text, is an overview of the book as a whole, reflecting both the physical setting in which the action takes place, and the emotional wilderness of uncertainty, rebelliousness, jealousy, and other tensions that shape the action..."

Dinner and a Movie

2008-05-26T13:41:58Z

Mary Hofmann, one of our Hadracha'08 participants from Merced, California tells us about her weekly Shabbat traditions:

"I didn't realize it, but I've been readopting Shabbat for some time. Our tiny, isolated congregation started having Erev Shabbat potlucks and lay services to end our week by relaxing with friends. Wonderful. Then my first grandson hit three years old, so I vowed to resurrect our long-fallow religious school (we've been around a while!). Why not on Shabbat? Turned out seven kids (ranging, terrifyingly, from 2 to 10 years) showed up, so we tagged an hour of Hebrew on for good measure. After the kids went home, the Hebrew teacher and I started having lunch . . . and maybe a little Torah study. One day we decided to go to a movie in town, something we rarely ever do, and dragged my husband along. Also wonderful, so we've kept doing it. By then, of course, it was almost time for dinner and I included my grandkids because my daughter works Saturday night. When it started getting dark, we did Havdallah--the babies LOVE Havdallah. We kept it. We kept it all. And, by golly, it's become our Shabbat tradition. Maybe a little untraditional (okay, very untraditional), but it's special to us now and it works!"

Thank you for sharing with us Mary! We look forward to hearing from the rest of you!

Attention, Attention!

2008-05-12T12:07:10Z

Do you ever light the Shabbat candles and blank completely on the tune for the blessing? Do your children love singing the Birkat Hamazon from camp but you never learned the melody? Log onto the new Shabbat Blessings page to listen and learn all of the Shabbat blessings and melodies. You can download the MP3s and listen to them all week long.

Eilu V'Eilu

2008-04-30T16:03:02Z

This month, the URJ's Eilu V'Eilu online publication, a point/counterpoint dialogue between two scholars providing for active participation from readers, focused on Shabbat, and attempted to answer the following questions:

What does Shabbat mean for today's Reform Jews? What Jewish values, perspectives and language define and describe our commitment to Shabbat observance? When observing Shabbat, how do we incorporate both individual experience and building relationships within our communities? How might Reform congregational culture change to accommodate both individual and community practices?

Check out the wonderful 4 part dialogue between Michelle Shapiro Abraham and Jim Ball by clicking on the links below. After you've read them, we'd love to hear your comments!

Part 1 - Opening Statements
Part 2 - Responses
Part 3 - Response to Readers
Part 4 - Closing Statments

The Truth Is...

2008-04-28T13:15:46Z

"The truth is we can talk about the joys and meaning of observing Shabbat until we're blue in the face and it won't really make much difference. It's like trying to describe the taste of chocolate to someone who has never eaten chocolate. Or in Jewish terms: na'aseh v'nishmah - we will do and [then] we will understand. Shabbat has to be experienced in order to be understood. Shabbat is not an intellectual pursuit; hence the challenge for us who are inheritors of a great intellectual Jewish heritage."

- Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman
Director, URJ Department of Worship, Music, & Religious Living

Finding Shabbat While Working Hard

2008-04-16T12:33:28Z

A few weeks ago, many of our colleagues and friends participated in the Riding4Reform, a fund-raiser for the Israeli Reform movement. Cantor Ross Wollman, of Congregatin Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette, IL was kind enough to share part of his experience, which he describes as "five shabbatot in a row" with us:

"There are many different forms of Shabbat m'nuchah, rest on Shabbat. Some enjoy a good book, some exercise outdoors, and some relax with the newest arrival from Netflix. Working as a Jewish professional can keep one serving for the entire day, which leaves little room for Shabbat m'nuchah. For many of us the standard 'day off' is a Monday or a Thursday and those days are typically left to errands and paying of the bills. You know, the stuff that needs to be accomplished. During difficult weeks such as these, I have found my Shabbat in an early Saturday morning activity. When weather permits, I grab my bicycle and go for a 2 hour morning ride. When I first moved to Chicago's North Shore, I was astounded at how large the cycling community was. On some days it can even seem crowded on the suburban routes to the Botanic Gardens or the bike trails even at 7 AM. It's an amazing site to end a ride to see that a favorite breakfast spot is teeming with riders in helmets, jerseys, and cycling shoes. During Chicago's heavily snow-filled winter, I went spinning at the gym, which appeased my mind but never gave the thrill of an open-air ride. Each Saturday morning as I would trudge through the snow, I would count down the weeks until I would finally arrive at my annual spring trip to Israel to participate in the Riding4Reform fund raiser...

Among many of the clergy present, it was in agreement that participating in the Ride was like having five Shabbatotin a row. For me it was especially meaningful as I had not only my morning ride but I had left the world of email, cell phones, and the busy workload far behind. It was wonderful to laugh and sing with my friends, some old, some new, which made for tough goodbyes. Many of us knew, however, that it was just l'hitra'ot, see you later, as we would return for next year's bike ride (March 29-April 2, 2009) which will begin in the Golan Heights and finish in Jerusalem." To learn more about Riding4Reform visit the Riding4Reform 2008 Blog and the Riding4Reform photo page

Shabot Shalom!

2008-04-11T12:47:24Z

We thought we'd help you get into the spirit of Shabbat with a little smile. Click the link below and enjoy!

View image

Shabbat Shalom!

Calling All Recipes!!

2008-04-09T18:40:09Z

We've shared some with you, now it's your turn to share them with us!
If you have any yummy Shabbat recipes (especially for things that can be brought to Shabbat Oneg) please share them with us, either by clicking here or by posting them as a comment.

Looking forward to your mouthwatering submissions!

Many Ways to Celebrate Shabbat

2008-04-07T13:05:37Z

It seems like everyone is talking about Shabbat these days (which is great!)!

A friend called our attention to an article entitled, Many Ways to Celebrate Shabbat on MyJewishLearning.com. Now we're calling it to your attention.

We hope you'll check it out.
Enjoy!

Shabbat Across America

2008-04-02T16:46:05Z

As one of our readers helpfully pointed out, this Friday is...

"...tens of thousands of Jews across America came together to eat, drink, relax, dance, enjoy, debate and celebrate.."!

For more information, check out the SAA website. Hope to see you all there!

Shabbat Blogging

2008-03-31T11:05:55Z

Shabbat continues to be a hot topic in the blogosphere. Check out this blogger's account of her "Do-It-Yourself Shabbat".

Here's a little sound-bite to whet your appetite:

"It all started with nothing to do. One Friday afternoon, as I realized I hadn't made plans for Shabbat dinner, I decided to, finally, gather people to my own table. The people I invited were purposefully not the usual Shabbat suspects, so I wasn't sure that an invitation to Shabbat dinner would be appealing.

Turns out it was."

Some Pre-Shabbat Reading

2008-03-28T14:30:09Z

As you head into Shabbat, we wanted to call your attention to this month's issue of Reform Judaism Magazine featuring an article by Rabbi Eric Yoffie entitled, "Reimagining Shabbat". For those of you who missed out on Rabbi Yoffie's speech at Bienniel, this is a great recap.

Enjoy and Shabbat Shalom!

Looking Ahead

2008-03-26T14:43:52Z

The members of our iWorship listserve raised a very important question recently:

This year, the first Passover Seder falls on a Saturday night - what changes (if any) should be made to the Seder? Should there be a Havdallah ceremony? If so, at what point in the Seder?

All good questions!

Here is the traditional answer:

If the Seder falls on Motzaei Shabbat (Saturday evening), Havdallah should be observed to separate the Sabbath from Passover (Yom Tov). The Havdallah ceremony will take place at the time of Kiddush over the 1st cup of wine (after lighting the Yom Tov candles). The blessing should be recited over the wine, and the usual Kadesh paragraph found in the Haggadah following Borei Pri Hagafen should be recited before continuing on with the other Havdallah blessings. The blessing over the spices is omitted so the next blessing after Kadesh will be the blessing over the fire (the Yom Tov candles may be used in place of a Havdallah candle). Following that is Hamavdil ben Kodesh and the Shehecheyanu.

Shabbat affects the preparations for Passover in other ways as well. Traditionally, all cleaning and burning of chametz is done before Shabbat begins. As well, the Fast of the Firstborn Child (traditionally observed by firstborn sons on the day leading up to Passover) is observed on the preceding Thursday, rather than on Shabbat.

For further reading, check out these books:
Pesach: Passover - Its Observance Laws and Significance, Rabbi Nosson Scherman & Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz
Every Person's Guide to Passover, by Ronald H. Issacs

Words of Wisdom

2008-03-21T13:26:10Z

Rabbi Abraham Joshuah Heschel wrote:

"The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world."

Shabbat Shalom!

BIKKUR CHOLIM

2008-03-19T12:56:17Z

Lynda Hoffman of Temple Ohabei Salom in Brookline, MA writes:

"I would prefer to go to Friday night services, but my multiple disabilities and age make it impossible. My personal assistant (who is also Jewish) and I, Light Shabbat candles, have dinner and watch a movie together!
It is agreat way to have a low key shabbat and I am already in bed when the movie is over."

As conversations about Shabbat have begun to flow, we are beginning to hear great stories from those who use their time on Shabbat to do the mitzvah of Bikkur Cholim, visiting the sick, and also spending time with the elderly and housebound members of their communities.
For example, Judy Lundy from B'nai Israel in Charleston, WV shared with us that after Shabbat lunch, she prepares bud vases with flowers, from the bimah flowers, and takes them with her when she visits those of the congregation that are either just unable to attend, or in the hospital, or sick at home. "I find this a pleasant and enjoyable and very satisfying way to spend my Shabbat" she says.

If you have such a story, or similar ideas for mitzvot we can do on Shabbat, please share them with us as well!